Thursday, April 10, 2014

BT and Microsoft announced a global agreement to provide secure cloud connectivity service.

The Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute service will enable customers to bypass the public Internet when connecting to Azure through a private connection based on BT’s IP Connect VPN service.

BT’s IP Connect VPN service, which is available in 198 countries and territories, integrates the Azure infrastructure directly with the wide area networks of customers. Customers will benefit from lower latency, more predictable performance and enhanced security for Azure workloads.

The service is due to go live in summer 2014 in Europe through direct network connectivity to Microsoft Azure data centres in Dublin and Amsterdam. This will be followed by connections in Asia, then by additional locations around the world.

Luis Alvarez, CEO, BT Global Services, said “IT departments everywhere face the same challenge; Cloud offers them the benefits of flexibility and lower costs, but security and reliability of access to data and applications remain main barriers to adoption. We will help customers build on their hybrid cloud strategies by bringing together BT's expertise and global network with the Azure platform. They will benefit from a globally consistent, more secure and reliable solution, helping them innovate and compete in the global market.”

Jean-Philippe Courtois, President, Microsoft International, said “Microsoft and BT have an established history of delivering cloud solutions that meet the evolving needs of business across many industries. Today’s announcement is yet another example of the two companies joining forces to help customers embrace cloud on their terms, by providing a more secure and reliable way to take advantage of the speed, flexibility and scale of hybrid solutions.”